Brewers' Fielder simply a 'big kid'

Just when you think a stud major-leaguer is about to join the ranks of the unrefined and hide out in the training room to avoid the media - again - a Prince arrives in the nick of time.

Literally seconds before reporters are asked to clear out of the Brewers' clubhouse before a recent Cactus League game, Milwaukee's favorite son bounds through the doors with a smile on his face and an accommodating handshake.

Not far away, a teammate tries to explain why the face of the Brewers' franchise wasn't in the clubhouse for a full hour before the team went out on the field for its daily morning stretch.

"Signing autographs for the kids, probably," one of them said. "He never stops."

If you're looking for the perfect fling this spring-training season, look no further than the Prince at a Cactus League facility near you.

"Kids just gravitate to him. Maybe because he's such a big kid himself," said Trevor Hoffman, the Brewers' new closer. "I think he relates a little bit because he was always around the game and in major-league clubhouses when he was little.

"I have kids that can appreciate what that means and they gravitate to Prince, too. It's amazing."

Long before he became a jovial pied piper, Fielder was an awestruck youth waiting to follow in his father's footsteps. Dad Cecil was one of the game's top sluggers and Prince was the kid in the clubhouse who never wanted to leave.

Sadly, he and his father are now estranged, as Cecil's financial hardships wound up affecting their relationship.

"It's cool. We're not really talking, but it is what it is," said Prince, who at 6 feet, 260 pounds, looks and hits a lot like his father. "There's no more anger to that situation, though. That's long gone."

But his love for the game and the kids who follow it is only getting bigger.

"I think I'm the way I am because all my dad's friends in baseball always took care of me and made me feel comfortable," Fielder says. "Some guys don't like kids, but everybody was always nice to me and so I try to do the same thing because it means a lot.

"It made a difference in my life."

Fielder is only 24, but he already has left a major mark in Milwaukee. In just three full seasons, he has accumulated 114 home runs, 312 RBIs, has a .533 career slugging percentage and last year helped the Brewers reach the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.

"There's still a buzz from last year and people that didn't even watch baseball really started to get into it," said Fielder, who recently was rewarded with a two-year, $18 million contract extension. "It was good to see the people around Milwaukee get excited."

As for being a leader at such a young age, Fielder said he first found it difficult. But he talked to older players and they told him to just be himself and the gregarious and happy-hearted big kid that he is.

"Personally, I think I can become a better player," he said. "I need to work on my defense, take more walks, know the strike zone a little more. You just want to get better at everything because you're never perfect, but you can practice more and it doesn't hurt. So I just want to be as perfect as I can be."